19Mar 2021 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments
How To Connect With Learners Moments Before Class Begins

How To Connect With Learners Moments Before Class Begins

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Imagine two situations. Which would you prefer? SITUATION ONE: You sign into the Zoom (or Teams or WebEx) session. There is a PowerPoint slide that says, "welcome to class." And silence. Nothing else. You just wait. Maybe you check email. Maybe you get up go get a cup of coffee. SITUATION TWO: You sign into the Zoom session. You are greeted by a person who says, "welcome Joe. Glad to have you here." The screen has a list of things to do before you get started. You read through it. It reminds you to turn off any distractions, so you do. It asks you to share a specific tidbit about yourself in chat. You do. You read the others. And then class begins. The moment someone arrives in training you…
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24Feb 2021 by Katrina Kennedy 1 Comment
How To Close Strong: Stop-Start-Continue Quick VILT Activity

How To Close Strong: Stop-Start-Continue Quick VILT Activity

Blog
How are you wrapping up your classes lately? Asking learners to reflect back on their experience is vital to longterm behavioral change. Stop-Start-Continue is a classic exercise that can be easily added into your virtual training. Add one slide to your slide deck then ask learners to use the annotation function to add their thoughts to the slide. In my example below you'll see there are a lot of ideas for each. Learners benefit from thinking about their own as well as seeing what others add. As people finish I ask them to stamp anything they didn't think of that stood out for them. The exercise takes about 4 minutes. No annotation feature in your learning platform? Ask learners to respond to the same three questions in chatUse three google…
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06Apr 2020 by Katrina Kennedy 1 Comment
What Happens When 50 People Gather To Learn From Each Other?

What Happens When 50 People Gather To Learn From Each Other?

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Last Friday I opened a Zoom meeting and waited. My reliable producer/tech support showed up on time. And then we waited. While he's really good company, I began to worry it was just going to be the two of us. And then you started to arrive! And WOW, did you arrive! I'm blown away by the Learning and Development Community. I'm blown away by YOU. We discussed what's working, what resources you've discovered, and what you need during these unprecedented times. The chat was moving faster than I could keep up with. There were ideas, insights, and resources shared among everyone. I even saw a few email addresses exchanged between people. I've gathered a few of the most common questions. Can I Train In The Virtual Environment? Yes. Yes you…
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01Apr 2020 by Katrina Kennedy 6 Comments
Learn Together And Lean On Each Other

Learn Together And Lean On Each Other

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Monday I cried in front of fifty people simply because we were together. I pride myself on having a very balanced, full life. I have clear boundaries. I don't work in the evening because that is reserved for family. I take time for myself. And then the corona virus happened. I have a congenital heart defect. I have been through two open heart surgeries, one just three years ago. I've technically had congestive heart failure my entire life. I cannot get this virus. I love what I do. I'm fortunate to be able to have a job that does not feel like work, allowing me to have a positive impact on people's lives. And then the corona virus happened. Three weeks ago I was standing in front of the room…
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04Mar 2020 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments
Seven Ways To Create An Indistractable Classroom

Seven Ways To Create An Indistractable Classroom

Blog
Their phones are perched on their tables, ready to connect them to their office, their homes, their game scores, and the latest tweets. The phones taunt them to pick them up and interact. My phone is similarly perched in the front of the room. "Just in case." My teenage son is home today (like he is every Friday). He might need something. The amount of tools and technology poised to distract us increases daily. More apps, more productivity hacks, more notifications. More. More. More. In a world of more it can be increasingly difficult to compete for attention when you have a group in a traditional classroom space. So how can you help make your classroom indistractable? I'm generously borrowing the term from Ner Eyal's book Indistractable: How To Control…
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